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草菅人命

Mandarin · pinyin cǎo jiān rén mìng

to have disregard for human life (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

草: cǎo · grass, straw, thatch, herbs
菅: jiān · coarse grass, Themedia forskalii
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
命: mìng · life; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction

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Mandarin tones

3–1–2–4 · cao3 jian1 ren2 ming4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cou2 gaan1 jan4 ming6

Cantonese word readings for 草菅人命. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to regard human life as if it were as worthless as straw

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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